Alternative transportation in metro D

[Jwo85]

Originally Posted by djmilf

The sad fact is that yes, unless you're going to live very near where you work, or you're going to live and work very near one of the few mass transit lines that actually make sense for you, you're gonna need a car.

And despite proposed advances in alternative transportation, Detroit is just too spread out for most people to be able to get around without their own personal mode of transportation.

Theres lots of abandon houses, buildings and factories all around the Metro area to change that and rebuild the right way.

[Hoarfrost]

Originally Posted by djmilf

The sad fact is that yes, unless you're going to live very near where you work, or you're going to live and work very near one of the few mass transit lines that actually make sense for you, you're gonna need a car.

And despite proposed advances in alternative transportation, Detroit is just too spread out for most people to be able to get around without their own personal mode of transportation.

Not really. Detroit is one of the more built up cities in America. It has 3x the density of Atlanta yet they're building a pretty thorough transportation system while we have nothing.

I think you can just chalk that one up to meddling by Big Auto and a lack of foresight.

[TheProf]

Not actually having lived there, but often having visited a friend, I'd say the ONE area in Detroit one could possibly get away w/o a car is around Wayne State U. There, you do have a large supermarket a few blocks over on Warren and the throat of the DOT/SMART bus system is on Woodward. Actually, a few years ago, I took a train over from Chicago and actually stayed downtown w/o a car (at the RenCen Marriott, which has spectacular views of the City. Aside from a few rides from a Wayne grad school friend, I bused and cabbed it around -- although, admittedly, I didn't travel much beyond these 2 nodes except for one picnic on Belle Isle (for which I got a ride)... But getting up 'n down Woodward's the key, and buses are generally every 5-10 mins, even on Sunday. There are quite a few services and restaurants on Woodward near Wayne. You've obviously got the (live/legitimate) theatres + Ford Field and Comerica @ Grand Circus, then Campus Martius with it's general buzz of stuff going on which, itself, is blocks away from always bustling Greektown... And then, at the base of downtown-- the end of Woodward, you've got Hart Plaza and Riverwalk, which is nearby RenCen (and Detroit's only in-city movie theatres), The Joe and Cobo conv. center, w/ the Auto Show and a slew of interesting conventions... You've got the excellent Detroit Institute of Arts and African Amer. museums and, of course, just up the street you've got the Amtrak station (w/ the 3 daily round trips to Chicago and Ann Arbor) as well as New Town a few blocks north... And along much of this the Woodward Corridor there are a bunch of cool restaurants, clubs, and a drug store here and there...

So, yes, I think I could manage this area w/o a car, EVEN IN DETROIT... Now, of course, if I wanted to venture out of this area to, say, Ferndale, Royal Oak or even Birmingham, it's not impossible. The former 2 still have some decent buses, from my understanding... Birmingham, I seriously doubt there's much (and if there is, I doubt it's no more than every hour and one looooong azz ride)... There are other areas of Detroit you could make it via DOT/SMART buses, but I'm sure that takes a LOT of planning... and time.

[daddythreepointoh]

I too get sick of the Michigan haters on this forum, but when it comes to public transport, the sad fact is that it doesn't exist. Besides the SMART bus system, and the future light rail project that is still years away, the only other public transport is the people mover in downtown, which only takes you around downtown in a loop.

Get some wheels!

[djmilf]

To TheProf:

The OP specifically stated that he was interested in the areas around Oakland University, Royal Oak, etc.; more specifically, the northern suburbs of Metro Detroit.

From your own posting, your Detroit experiences are in Detroit City proper, specifically the University District and the Downtown; these areas are an entire county away from OU and Royal Oak. While your experience with the Detroit Department of Transportation's bus system was (in your opinion) a good one, the Suburban Mobility AuthoritOrror Regional Transit handles mass transit outside Detroit City. Compared to the DOT in the city of Detroit, the SMART mass transit system does not provide adequate coverage for the Detroit suburbs.

[Coldjensens]

There are busses in the suburbs?

[MIEng]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

There are busses in the suburbs?

There are SMART busses all over the northern suburbs. I live in SH and I see them all the time along Schoenherr and Van Dyke (on my way to work). They are very inefficient though, and you have to do a lot of planning so you don't end up coming late to work.
The area of Troy, Madison Heights, Sterling Heights and Warren is pretty much a grid. If these busses where better synchronized it would be very easy to move around without a car.